Andrew Lippa's Musical Chronology of the Gay Experience, Unbreakable, to Make World Premiere in San Francisco

Following the international success of I Am Harvey Milk, which played an acclaimed 2014 Lincoln Center concert, composer and lyricist Andrew Lippa will debut a new world premiere titled Unbreakable at San Francisco's Nourse Theater this spring. Described as a musical chronology of the gay experience in America, Unbreakable begins in 1900 and brings its audience, decade by decade, up to present day. Unbreakable will feature original music and lyrics by Lippa, direction by Robert Kelley and performances by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus with principals Lippa, Lisa Vroman (Aspects of Love), Britney Coleman (Sunset Boulevard) and Marcus Paige. The show will play three performances, on June 22 at 8:00pm and June 23 at 2:30pm and 8:00pm.

In a statement, Lippa said, “Following up on the success of I Am Harvey Milk, I wanted to tackle something even larger. Taking my cue from playwright August Wilson, whose 10-play cycle chronicling the 20th-century African-American experience served as my inspiration, I decided to take on the evolution of gay rights in America. Unbreakable is my musical tribute to the LGBTQ community—how we evolved, triumphed, suffered and soared. It’s also my lament for a world still full of bakers who won’t bake for us, lawmakers who won’t make for us and conservative minds who won’t wake for us. Unbreakable is not only a statement of how we have reacted in the past. It’s a statement of how we must go forward.”

Spanning 120 years, Unbreakable focuses on a curated selection of stories throughout American LGBTQ history—like Harvard’s “Secret Court” of 1920, the life of transgender and gay activist Sylvia Rivera, The Lavender Scare, the work of Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams and others.

Lippa's Broadway scores include Big Fish, The Addams Family and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He is also the composer of the off-Broadway musicals The Wild Party and John & Jen.